This disclosure relates to methods of servicing a wellbore. More specifically, it relates to compositions and methods for proppant delivery and treatment.
Natural resources (e.g., oil or gas) residing in a subterranean formation may be recovered by driving resources from the formation into the wellbore using, for example, a pressure gradient that exists between the formation and the wellbore, the force of gravity, displacement of the resources from the formation using a pump or the force of another fluid injected into the well or an adjacent well. The production of the fluid in the formation may be increased by hydraulically fracturing the formation. That is, a viscous fracturing fluid may be pumped down the wellbore at a rate and a pressure sufficient to form fractures that extend into the formation, providing additional pathways through which the oil or gas can flow to the well.
To maintain the fractures open when the fracturing pressures are removed, a propping agent (i.e., a proppant) may be used. Proppant packs are typically introduced into the wellbore and surrounding formation during fracturing and completion operations in order to provide a structural frame for both downhole support and fluid collection. However, while delivering a proppant into the wellbore, in order to achieve a high downhole proppant concentration, a concentrated proppant solution may need to be placed downhole. Placing concentrated proppant solutions downhole is often a tedious operation as the viscosity of such solutions may limit the treatment rate (e.g., pump rate). As the treatment rate is decreased, the time for completion fracturing operation is extended resulting in an inability to sustain the fracture width of induced fractures. Further, the turbulence necessary to transport proppant farther into the fracture decreases as the treatment rate decreases. Thus there is an ongoing need for improved compositions and methodologies for proppant delivery and treatment.